Is it possible?
Stats show that literary fiction isn't exactly the most popular genre of novel out there. However, is it possible to link literary fiction with mainstream fiction?
That's what I attempted to do with my novel. I kept looking at it as an "eye-opener", and maybe I'm trying to pull the wool over people's eyes. You make them believe they're reading the next big love story, an action-packed plot, but underneath is a lining of allusions and references that could only be found in literary works.
I do want to make people think, but I don't want them to think about setting the book down and walking away.
How do you keep your readers intrigued in the literary fiction world?
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If I have to make my name mean something to this world, I will. If I have to seize the power, I swear I can. If that’s what it takes to build you up again, to make you perfect, I’ll unravel, I’ll tie up, I’ll destroy this world if you want me to.
50,526 / 50,000
Nov 23, 2008 - 10 18
I think it's possible - I'm writing 2 novels into my novel.
Don't grab the idea ... someone's interested in using it when I'm done writing it ... But 1 of the two internal ones is literary fic, the other plain historical fic (mystery).
Personally, since lit fic is what I want to read, it's what I'm writing. Of course, I'm not worried about getting it published (even though there's interest now).
Anyway - I'm sticking to what I want to read. That way I don't get tired of it.
50,215 / 50,000
Nov 23, 2008 - 10 28
My novel is sort of like this. There's a lot of plot points. Things happen rapidly and I use the tension they create to push the reader forward. But the essense of the novel is not about what happens. It's about what the events to do the (8-year old) character. So in that sense it's sort of literary fiction, and somewhat of a classic Bildungsroman.
The way I see it is that people can read it and just read an entertaining (if dark and ultimately unsettling) book. But if you look deeper it's really about the characters and how they change. And underlying motives are not always explained.
40,384 / 50,000
Nov 23, 2008 - 16 44
I don't WANT lit fiction dumbed down to the point that it is incorporated into the mainstream. Literary fiction sometimes pops into the mainstream and some mainstream work is very literary, but I'd be very sad to see literary fiction watered down to the point that it is accepted by the same people who tout "American Idol" winners as great musicians.
59,398 / 50,000
Nov 23, 2008 - 16 52
No, I don't think literary fiction itself will change.
However if we're teaching through books then mainstream needs to stop being so mainstream and take a leaf out of our book. It wouldn't be dumbing down literary fiction, but rather smartening up mainstream, if there would ever be such a thing.
11,014 / 50,000
Nov 23, 2008 - 18 06
I'm not sure genre matters all that much, really. Michael Chabon, the Pulitzer Prize winning novelist, is very much interested in breaking down boundaries when it comes to what is considered high and low art in literature. His last novel was an adventure novel.
I think what matters the most is the quality of the writing, more so than the genre you think you're working in.